Fruit-crushing device.



E. T. MEAKIN. FRUIT CRUSHING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6, 1911.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTOR H7 TOH/VEY:

WITNESSES E. T. MEAKIN. FRUIT GRUSHING DEVIGE. APPLICATION FILED JULX 6,1911.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E I a j HTTORNEY:

*n NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHGTD-LITHQ. WASHMfGmN. D

pnrrn satire rant or.

EDGAR T. MEAKIN, 0F BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.

FRUIT-CRUSHING DEVICE. "a

iaaoae.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR T. MEAKIN, residing in Berkeley, county ofAlameda, State of California, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Fruit- Crushing Devices, whereof the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to combined means for crushing and stemming fruits,especially grapes and to convey the must thereof to a receiving tank forfermenting purposes or otherwise. mentioned was carried on byindependently set up apparatus provided respectively with powerconnecting means thus requiring costly connections, expensive and slowhandling of the grapes and the must thereof also a great deal of groundspace, for mounting and operating them.

To carry out my invention in practice and to obviate the objections justmentioned thereby accomplishing the object I have in view, I construct abase of suitable size and strength upon which I set a crusher andstemmer inclosed in a casing provided with a hopper at its top and alower projecting semi-cylindrical perforated bottom, all of which aresupported upon the base by suitable frame. I

Within the frame just mentioned and inclosing the perforated bottom ofthe casing I provide a receiving chamber and connect the same to avalve-chest set up upon the base and provided with a conveying ordischarge pipe mounted thereon and connected to a receiving tank forfermenting purposes or otherwise. I then connect the valve-chestrespectively at the sides thereof to suction and force pump which arealso mounted upon the base.

The crusher, stemmer and pump above mentioned are provided with shaftsfor operating the same and upon these shafts I secure gears ofdifferential diameter meshing together for transmitting the power fromthe driving shaft to the other shafts according to their requiredrevolution.

By way of making my invention perfectly intelligible and explaining themeans for carrying it into efiect, I have, in the ac- Specification ofLetters Patent.

Heretofore the operation above Patented Feb. 9, il ilfi.

Application filed July 6, 1911. Serial No. 637,220.

companying three sheets of drawings, illustrated the same, in what Iconsider the best embodiment, but I wish it to be understood that I donot limit myself to thepeculiar construction thus shown, except asspecially set forth in the claims at the end thereof.

This invention relates to combined grape crushing, stem removing andmust pumping machines for the use in the process of wine making fromgrapes, and has for its object the production of mechanism that willcomplete in one continuous operation the several performances requiredin said process.

Another object is to obviate the defect, now met with in machines ofthis nature, of the frequent clogging of the suction pipe of the mustpump by pomace, and in this way eliminate the necessity of frequentstopping of the machine, the removal of all the liquid contents from themust pan, and the cleaning of the suction pipe of the must pump.

To these ends and objects chiefly my invention embraces a pair ofcrushing rollers located at the bottom of a feed hopper, means fordetaching the grapes from the stems, expelling the latter from themachine, and a novel arrangement for delivering the must from thestemming means to the pump.

The invention embraces further a pump to remove the must from the pan,and de liver it to a higher elevation into the must tanks.

The invention further embraces a novel construction and arrangement ofparts and mechanism, producing a continuously operating machine, thatwill not readily clog, all as hereinafter described and set forth.

' The following description explalns at length the nature of my saidinvention, and the manner in which I proceed to apply and carry out thesame in the production ofan improved machine for the purpose named,

reference being had to the drawings that accompany and form partthereof.

Referring to the subjoined drawings forming a part of the followingspecifics tion in which Figure 1, is a front elevation of my com- .bineddevices mounted upon the same base.

Fig. 2, is a side elevation of same and Fig. 3,

is a sectional elevation taken on line a b of .Fig. 1.

Referring nowsto the several views of the drawings similar numeralfigures and ,letters of reference denote correspondingparts whereverthey occur.

Thus 1, represents thebase upon which my combination of devices ismounted, consisting of crushing rollers 2 and 2 secured respectivelytoishafts 3 and 3, stemmer Ion shaft '5, and casing "6, in which "boththe crushing rollers and stem'mers areheld in position, 7 the hopper onthe top of the easing-and '8 the projecting semi-cylindrical perforatedibottom at the *lower end 1 thereof allwof whi-eh-aresupported inposition: onthe "base Ir-by vertical frame- 9in which is located the:receiving :chamber 10 as particularly shownin Fig. 3.

Upon thesbase 1 and adj acent to the frame '9 isthewa'lve-chest1*1,c0nnected with the receiving chamber '10 by means "of pipes '12,--shown exc lusively in Fig. 3 and providcd with the discharge pipe 13'secured thereon for the purpose above mentioned. Mounted also upon thebase land in alinepara'llel -to' the frame 9 is a pair of combinedsuction and 'forcepumps 14,-this number may however be reduced orincreased in'accordance withthe requirements and are connected to ,thevalve-chestby means of pipes 15 secured *tOfthB'SldQS' thereof asparticularly shown in Fig. 1.

The piston connecting rods 16 of the pumpsare' pivoted to gears 17 shownin Figs. 1 and 3 and Which are mounted on *frame 18 secured'tobase'landmeshing with i pinion 19 on power transmitting shaft "20.

Having described so far :the general arrangement of the parts composing'the various devices-which form the subject ofthis application, Ishall'now describe the com- ,bined means "for operating "the same whichare as follows 7 Upon the shaft 5 of the stemmer I secure .a pulley 21and connect the same to the source of power bylmeans-o'f belt 22 shown".in dotted line, Fig. 2 and adjacent to said pulley is a pinion 23secured to the same shaftand meshing with gear 24 on shaft 3 .of roller2' andgear '25 on'power transmit- :ti-ng shaft 20 ofpinion '19 thustransmitting the power to the roller 2 and pinion"'I9 which in turnoperatethe gears '17 -and consequently the pumps "114:. The opposite endofshaft 3 is provided with gear wheel '26 as shown in "Fig. '1 meshingwith similar wheel on shaft'S-not shown in the'drawings, fortransmitting the power to said shaft.

Inpractice the grapes or other fruits for which my jinvention may beused are dumped into the hopper 7 and crushed be- "tweenthe rollers 2and-'2' and therefrom into-the receiving chamber 10 below. From.theoreceiving chamber the must is pumped out into the valve-chest 11through pipes 12 by means of pumps 14 and connecting pipes "15 and thenfrom the valve-chest forced into the-fermentingtank or other receptacle,thus the operation of my combined devices may be continuously operatedin the same mannerwith the same result.

Believing I have produced a usefuland 'novelimprovement and describedsame to be -fully1understood by-mechanicsskilledv in the art towhich-.my invention appertains, what I claim and desire to secureby'Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is 1. An apparatus of thecharacter described, comprising in combination, a 110pper, a casingbelow said hopper and having a perforate bottom, a plurality of crushingrollers disposed in the neck of said'hopper, a stemmer disposed in saidcasing, a

Il'lllSln pump for the removal and delivery of both solids and liquidsof the pomace, and a receiving chamber disposed below said hopperandcasing and having an inclined floor sloping toward the suction inletof said pump, a driven gearwheeltrain adapted to simultaneously operatesaid crushing rollers, pump and stemmer, and a base adapted to receiveall of said members whereby-a unitary structure is obtained.

hopper and casing and adapted to receive the discharge therefrom, :saidcasingbeing provided withan inclined floor sloping toward the suctioninlet of said pump, a driven gear wheel train adapted to simultaneouslyoperate said crushing rollers, stemmer, and pump,-and a base adapted toreceive allof said members whereby annitary structure is obtained.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination of means to'receive and crush bunches of grapes, means for the separation andexpulsion of the stems, a mustpump 'forthe removal and de- *liveryofboth solids and liquids of the pomace, and means for'deliveringtheliquids and solids of the pomace to the pump in an un- In testimonythat I claim the foregoing separated condition, said last mentioned Ihave hereunto set my hand in the presence means comprising a mustchamber having of Witnesses, this 10 day of June 1911.

a floor sloping sharply to its lowest point EDGAR T. MEAKIN. and asuction pipe for the pump opening Witnesses:

out of said chamber near the lowest point 0. J. DAHL,

thereof. TEGK L. Sony.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of lacents,

Washington, D. G.

